Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The 2nd Fantazia Festival continues to mesmerize art lovers in Baku.

In his speech, EU representative in Azerbaijan Denis Danilidis stressed that the festival aims at raising awareness about the importance of preserving cultural heritage, including the promotion of Azerbaijani architecture. This year the festival coincides with the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership.

Venezuelan and Greece actors have successfully performed in Baku as part of the festival, Trend Life reported.

At first, Ludwig Pineda and Costa Palamides and a pianist-composer Pantelis Palamidis delighted the audience with a tragicomedy "Love of Don Perlimplin with Belisa" based on a play by the Spanish playwright Federico Garcia Lorca.

"Love of Don Perlimplin with Belisa in his Garden tells the story of an elderly bachelor, Don Perlimplín, who is persuaded by his servant Marcolfa that he should marry on the grounds that she is getting too old and won't always be there to look after him.

Don Perlimplín expresses doubts but agrees to marry the far younger and very unsuitable Belisa. Belisa accepts the match because her avaricious mother convinces her that Don Perlimplín's money will make her more attractive.

Ludwig Pineda played as Don Perlimplin, while Costa Palamides embodied three images at once - Marcolfa, Belisa and Duende.

Next, this stunning trio presented "Gods and Goodbyes, Latin America in my Voice", a poetic-musical recital composed of fragments of poems, songs and theatrical monologues of more than 20 poets and playwrights from Latin America including Netzalhualcóyotl and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Mexico), Pablo Neruda and Marco Antonio de la Parra (Chile), Eduardo Galeano and Florencio Sánchez (Uruguay), Aimé Cesaire (Martinique), Luis Palés Matos (Puerto Rico), Juan Gelmán (Argentina) and others.

Both performances aroused great interest among the audience.

The 2nd Fantazia Festival will continue with various photo exhibitions, film screenings, concerts and theater performances, master classes at the university until November 15.

As part of the festival, numerous art projects, debates and film screenings are held in Ganja. Moreover, the festival's guests are invited to the event dedicated to the Day of Albanian-Udinian Culture in the village of Nij, Gabala region.

The event is organized in partnership with EU Member States and countries - France, Bulgaria, Italy, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Hungary, Moldova, Mexico, Argentina, Tajikistan, Venezuela, as well as local partners, including the Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture, the Main Baku City Culture Department and Icherisheher State Historical and Architectural Reserve.

The Second Fantazia Festival is sponsored by the Landmark Business Center. The festival's official partners include YARAT Contemporary Art Space, Salaam Cinema, Ganja Municipality, Albanian-Udinian Christian Community, Casa Batlo Barcelona, and AEDOS. The festival's scientific partners are Ca' Foscari University, Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, Azerbaijan-France University (UFZ), and Ganja State University.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.az, Trend.az, Day.az and Milli.az.

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz